The two very short excerpts below discuss a Reformed Christian view of end times opposed to the Dispensational views that are seemingly part of Christian social views on the faith [views floating around in the social realm that go largely unexamined].
The second video gets into covenant theology vs dispensationalism, noting that there is only one covenant of grace operating in both the Old and New Testaments….
[Romans 4 and Galatians 3 indicate that the covenant God made with Abraham to which the law, of Moses, was added to be a ‘guardian’ until Christ came, that we might then be justified by faith. SEE EXCERPTS OF GALATIANS AND ROMANS BELOW VIDEOS.]
The title of the following video at Ligonier: What view did Calvin and other Reformers take on eschatology?
The following 4-minute video is also from Ligonier Ministries; Derek Thomas and Steven Nichols are part of a 4-person panel discussing eschatology:
Title of the following video at Ligonier on YouTube: How does Reformed theology understand the future of Israel? And how does this view compare to the theology of dispensationalism?
The Law and the Promise: [subtitle from ESV]
Galatians 3:15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
Gal 3:24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
[All of Romans 4 is pasted in, the emboldened and underscored portions are essential to read.]
Abraham Justified by Faith
Romans 4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
Rom 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Rom 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Rom 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
Rom 4:5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Rom 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
Rom 4:7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
Rom 4:8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Rom 4:9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.
Rom 4:10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
Rom 4:11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well,
Rom 4:12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
The Promise Realized Through Faith
Rom 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
Rom 4:14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Rom 4:15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
Rom 4:16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
Rom 4:17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Rom 4:18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
Rom 4:19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
Rom 4:20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
Rom 4:21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
Rom 4:22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
Rom 4:23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone,
Rom 4:24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
Rom 4:25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Regarding Jesus’ words from Matthew: [using the KJV with Strongs numbers]
Mat 16:18 AndG1161 I say alsoG2504 G3004 unto thee,G4671 ThatG3754 thouG4771 artG1488 Peter,G4074 andG2532 uponG1909 thisG5026 rockG4073 I will buildG3618 myG3450 church;G1577 andG2532 the gatesG4439 of hellG86 shall notG3756 prevail againstG2729 it.G846
From Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries:
G1577
ἐκκλησία
ekklēsia
ek-klay-see’-ah
From a compound of G1537 and a derivative of G2564; a calling out, that is, (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both): – assembly, church.
Total KJV occurrences: 115
From The Complete Word Study Dictionary:
ἐκκλησία
ekklēsía; gen. ekklēsías, fem. noun from ékklētos (n.f.), called out, which is from ekkaléō (n.f.), to call out. It was a common term for a congregation of the ekklētoí (n.f.), the called people, or those called out or assembled in the public affairs of a free state, the body of free citizens called together by a herald (kḗrux [G2783]) which constituted the ekklēsía. In the NT, the word is applied to the congregation of the people of Israel (Act_7:38). On the other hand, of the two terms used in the OT, sunagōgḗ (G4864) seems to have been used to designate the people from Israel in distinction from all other nations (Act_13:43 [cf. Mat_4:23; Mat_6:2; Jas_2:2; Rev_2:9; Rev_3:9]). In Heb_10:25, however, when the gathering of Christians is referred to, it is called not sunagōgḗ, but episunagōgḗ (G1997), with the prep. epí (G1909), upon, translated “the assembling . . . together.” The Christian community was designated for the first time as the ekklēsía to differentiate it from the Jewish community, sunagōgḗ (Act_2:47 [TR]). The term ekklēsía denotes the NT community of the redeemed in its twofold aspect. First, all who were called by and to Christ in the fellowship of His salvation, the church worldwide of all times, and only secondarily to an individual church (Mat_16:18; Act_2:44, Act_2:47; Act_9:31; 1Co_6:4; 1Co_12:28; 1Co_14:4-5, 1Co_14:12; Php_3:6; Col_1:18, Col_1:24). Designated as the church of God (1Co_10:32; 1Co_11:22; 1Co_15:9; Gal_1:13; 1Ti_3:5, 1Ti_3:15); the body of Christ (Eph_1:22; Col_1:18); the church in Jesus Christ (Eph_3:21;); exclusively the entire church (Eph_1:22; Eph_3:10, Eph_3:21; Eph_5:23-25, Eph_5:27, Eph_5:29, Eph_5:32; Heb_12:23). Secondly, the NT churches, however, are also confined to particular places (Rom_16:5; 1Co_1:2; 1Co_16:19; 2Co_1:1; Col_4:15; 1Th_2:14; Phm_1:2); to individual local churches (Act_8:1; Act_11:22; Rom_16:1; 1Th_1:1; 2Th_1:1). Ekklēsía does not occur in the gospels of Mark, Luke, John, nor the epistles of 2 Timothy, Titus, 1 and 2 John, or Jude.
(I) Of persons legally called out or summoned (Act_19:39, of the people); and hence also of a tumultuous assembly not necessarily legal (Act_19:32, Act_19:41). In the Jewish sense, a congregation, assembly of the people for worship, e.g., in a synagogue (Mat_18:17) or generally (Act_7:38; Heb_2:12 quoted from Psa_22:22; Sept.: Deu_18:16; 2Ch_1:3, 2Ch_1:5).
(II) In the Christian sense, an assembly of Christians, generally (1Co_11:18, a church, the Christian church).
(A) A particular church, e.g., in Jerusalem (Act_8:1; Act_11:22); Antioch (Act_11:26; Act_13:1); Corinth (1Co_1:2; 2Co_1:1); Asia Minor (1Co_16:19); Galatia (Gal_1:2); Thessalonica (1Th_1:1; 2Th_1:1); Cenchrea (Rom_16:1). Also, “the churches of the nations” (a.t.) means churches of Gentile Christians (Rom_16:4); the church which meets at the house of someone (Rom_16:5; 1Co_16:19; Phm_1:2); the churches of Christ (Rom_16:16); the church of God at Corinth (1Co_1:2).
(B) The church universal (Mat_16:18; 1Co_12:28; Gal_1:13; Eph_1:22; Eph_3:10; Heb_12:23); church of God (1Co_10:32; 1Co_11:22; 1Co_15:9; 1Ti_3:15 [cf. in the Sept. the church of the Lord {Deu_23:2, 3}]).
(III) The word ekklēsía is nowhere used of heathen religious assemblies in Scripture. In the OT, two different words are used to denote gatherings of the chosen people or their representatives: edah (H5712) meaning congregation and qahal (H6951), assembly. In the Sept., sunagōgḗ (G4864) is the usual translation of edah while qahal is commonly rendered ekklēsía. Both qahal and ekklēsía by their derivation indicate calling or summoning to a place of meeting, but there is no foundation for the widespread notion that ekklēsía means a people or a number of individual men called out of the world or mankind. Qahal or ekklēsía is the more sacred term denoting the people in relation to Jehovah, especially in public worship. Perhaps for this very reason, the less sacred term sunagōgḗ was more commonly used by the Jews in our Lord’s time, and probably influenced the first believers in adopting ekklēsía for Christian use. Sunagōgḗ, though used in the early church as a syn. for ekklēsía (Jas_2:2), quickly went out of use for a Christian assembly, except in sects which were more Jewish than Christian. Owing to the growing hostility of the Jews, it came to indicate opposition to the church (Rev_2:9; Rev_3:9). Ekklēsía, therefore, at once suggests the new people of God, the new Israel.
(IV) The terms “the kingdom of God” and “the church” are distinguished in Scripture. The kingdom appears to be a reign rather than a realm, which the church is. These two ideas, however, are complementary, the one implying the other. Sometimes it is hardly possible to distinguish between them. It may be true that by the words “the kingdom of God,” our Lord means not so much His disciples, whether individually or as a collective body, but something which they receive or a state upon which they enter. At the same time, the whole history of the growth of the idea of the kingdom led, naturally, to the belief that the kingdom of God about which Christ taught would be expressed and realized in a society. His kingdom is visibly represented in His church, and the church is the kingdom of heaven insofar as it has already come, and it prepares for the kingdom as it is to come in glory. See basileía (G932), kingdom.
NARRATIVE AND LINKS FROM LIGONIER MINISTRIES AT YOUTUBE:
From one of our live events, Derek Thomas and Stephen Nichols discuss God’s great plan of salvation.
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